‘A poor man’s Oxbridge’?: The founding of the University of York, 1960–73

The University Couloir: Exploring Physical and Intellectual Connectivity

“…It should be noted, though, that the twentieth-century York campus did not, in most estimations, possess individual modern buildings of outstanding quality, other than perhaps the Central Hall, strikingly cantilevered over the lake. Indeed, it was the lake and other landscape design features (now nationally listed as a Grade II designed landscape) that attracted most praise initially (Ossa-Richardson, 2014 , 148; Warren, 2021 , 80), and which have a prime role in integrating the whole campus design. York was certainly not an example of a university putting “its faith in grandiose architecture as a way of asserting its importance” (Whyte, 2021 , 30): on the contrary, the development of the original planned campus depended largely on a standardised construction system using steel frameworks and pre-cast concrete panels, known by the acronym CLASP.…”